How to Get Butter to Room Temperature Fast

Need Room-Temperature Butter Fast? Here's What You Do

We've all been there: recipe in hand, apron on, ready to make a delicious layer cake or a batch of chewy cookies, only to realize that the recipe calls for room-temperature butter. You might think that the best solution is to briefly blitz it in the microwave until soft, but that usually leads to partially melted butter. Since the texture of butter affects the finished baked good, this simply won't do. The solution? Grate the cold butter on the large side of a box grater (it may get messy). This drastically increases the butter's surface area, exposing it to more room-temperature air and bringing it to room temperature much faster, so you'll be able to use it in your recipe that much sooner.

I've grated butter for years and it works like a charm. Don't remove the wrapper--keep it on, peeling it back a little at a time as you grate down the stick of butter. Your fingers will stay MUCH cleaner than if you hold an unwrapped stick, and your body heat won't melt much of the butter at all.

Cooks Illustrated recommends slicing the butter pretty thin, then letting it sit out while you gather the other ingredients. I've done this several times, and the butter was at room temperature by the time I needed it.